Spine
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Clinical Trial
Impact of surgical intervention on quality of life in patients with spinal metastases.
Prospective clinical study. ⋯ Surgery for patients with spinal metastases offers decreased pain and improved quality of life with low rates of surgical complications.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Heterotopic ossification in total cervical artificial disc replacement.
Prospective clinical study enrolled in 2 centers (Munich and Liberec) as part of a prospective European multicenter study with ProDisc C (Synthes Inc., Paoli, PA). ⋯ Only 33.8% of the patients did not show any signs of heterotopic ossification, and the rate of spontaneous fusion after TCDR 1 year after surgery was unexpectedly high. There were 49.4% of the patients with grade 2-3 ossification, which lets us suspect an even higher rate of spontaneous fusion after long-term follow-ups. Motion preservation after TCDR is only guaranteed if spontaneous fusion can be prevented. Thus, mobility of the implanted segments needs to be further studied.
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Comparative Study
B1 and TRPV-1 receptor genes and their relationship to hyperalgesia following spinal cord injury.
Laboratory investigation of pain behavior following spinal cord injury. ⋯ B1 and TRPV-1 receptor genes are overexpressed in the injured spinal cord of animals manifesting thermal hyperalgesia following SCI compared with similarly injured animals without hyperalgesia. This finding is consistent with past work regarding the role of these receptors in nociception and indicates that ongoing modifiable processes are occurring in the spinal cord that lead to clinical pain syndromes.
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Case report. ⋯ When faced with a patient with a history of multiple hereditary exostoses with new onset of myelopathic symptoms and a mass compressing the spinal cord, the clinician's differential should be broad and always initially include a metastatic lesion, osteochondroma, or chondrosarcoma.
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Cadaveric study. ⋯ The majority of specimens can safely accept placement of a laminar screw. This study establishes anatomic guidelines to allow for accurate screw selection and insertion. Preoperative planning is essential for safe screw placement via this technique.